Spotlight with Iryna Peretiazhko: Scientist and Ukrainian Refugee

Born in Vinnytsia, a city southwest of Kyiv, Iryna Peretiazhko completed her Master’s in Microbiology at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, spending her formative years as a Research Assistant working with electron microscopy technology in Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences.

“All of my life, I really wanted to do research,” Iryna explains. “But unfortunately, there are very few opportunities for PhD studies in Ukraine, so before the war broke out I was teaching chemistry and biology in a secondary school.”

As you might imagine, Iryna recalls the chaotic opening moments of the Russian invasion in 2022 in detail. “It was awful” she says. “I was in Kyiv which was a target from day one. I would wait in four-hour queues for the supermarket or the pharmacy. And then I would go to the bomb shelter during the evening curfew or spend the night in subway stations alongside many other people."

After a couple of weeks of living like this, Iryna decided to leave Kyiv and move back home to Vinnytsia.

A few months later, in June 2022, Iryna moved to the UK – a country she had previously never set foot in – through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. She found a family in London who hosted her in their spare room. Though Iryna has since moved out to live with friends, she remains in contact with them.

Iryna quickly secured a job as a science teacher in a school on the outskirts of north London, though it didn’t come without its difficulties: “It was very hard to work as a science teacher, especially as English isn’t my first language,” Iryna says.

Aware of Iryna’s scientific background, her host family recommended that she look for a job within scientific research. And by a great coincidence, a friend of the family was working as a Reader in Chemistry at King’s and offered to circulate her CV internally.

Iryna’s CV eventually found its way to the desk of Dr Julien Bergeron, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Basic & Medical Biosciences whose research focuses on the structure and mechanisms of proteins in microbes to understand what makes an infectious disease infectious. Due to the incredibly small size of these protein structures, studying them involves a range of ‘biophysical’ methods including cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).

Serendipitously, just as Iryna’s CV landed, Julien was also contacted by the Human Frontier Science Program with an invitation to apply for additional funding from the Scientists for Scientists Initiative (S4S) Initiative for projects with Ukrainian researchers displaced and affected by the war. Julien was immediately receptive to the idea.

Iryna and Julien met to discuss how they might work together, and what their project could look like. Just one day after sending off a two-page proposal, they learned that the funding was approved.

“That was unbelievable!” Julien laughs, still amazed by a level of efficiency rarely found in the process of obtaining research funding. “It really seemed like it was meant to be. I would’ve been crazy to refuse it.”

Iryna was also keen to seize the opportunity. And for good reason; being involved in scientific research is the realisation of a long held professional ambition. She smiles while talking about her new team, which she describes as the best aspect of working at King’s.

Julien adds: “Sometimes I have to tell her to go home and remind her that she can finish her experiment tomorrow.” Clearly Iryna has really taken to laboratory life and is enjoying being in London.

“All the work is really interesting too,” she explains “especially as I’m using lots of new equipment and instruments. You have all the chemicals and resources you need to work on the research, it’s incredible.”

Iryna is drawing on her cryo-EM experience to study the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A dangerous infection, the bacterium is responsible for the majority of hospital-acquired infections due to the prevalence of antibiotic resistant strains that infect people who are already sick, or immunocompromised.

Specifically, Julien and Iryna are looking at the biofilm, a mesh of proteins created by colonies of bacteria, which acts as a shield against any biological or chemical dangers and provides a structure where the bacteria thrive.

Iryna has already purified several components of the biofilm membrane and is now looking at its atomic structure to better understand the nature of its interactions. This important research builds on recent work from North American collaborators of the Bergeron lab into P. aeruginosa biofilm formation.

So what does the future hold for Iryna? “I don’t know,” is the short answer, perhaps unsurprisingly. While she loves her country, particularly as many of her friends and family remain in Ukraine, she feels that a future there, particularly in scientific research, is doubtful.

For now, both Julien and Iryna are keen to continue working together, and Iryna’s aspiration is to apply for a PhD after working a bit longer as a Research Assistant. “The UK, and King’s in particular, have really opened doors for me scientifically and I’m so happy that I have these opportunities,” she smiles.